Sara here!

we have two weeks of farmers markets under our belt for this season so far! The Poulsbo market has pretty much doubled since last year, and it’s a whole new market! I’m now a raw goat milk convert, and can’t wait to try some locally made pasta! So far we’ve only had our overwintered kale, duck and chicken eggs and plant starts to offer, but it’s getting me super excited for the new season! The arugula and bok choi is looking good, we have some lettuce and spinach that is almost ready, and are transplanting (cilantro, leeks, onions, lettuce, parsnips, beets, kale, and chard) and seeding like mad (squash, melon, beans, greens, and beets) to get everything in. We mixed our own soil (3-4 parts compost, 3-4 parts topsoil, 1 part pearlite, 1 part vermiculite, and 1 part peat~~ water!) this year instead of buying pre-bagged seed starting mix and I must say that I’m liking the way it turned out. I’m also stoked to get the tomatoes in the greenhouses. We’ve run our chickens through them and I’m hoping that the extra nitrogen will be a benefit.

Our season is pretty short, and Jared and I are looking forward to getting some low tunnels up soon with the slitted row cover to hopefully extend the season. we used it before in our small garden’s raised beds, and liked the way it worked for those.

I will make a concerted effort to get some pictures of the market this next week and will get them up soon!

Sara here! I know that we’ve said this before, and I don’t want to come off as an amateur, because I’ve learned a lot, but Jared and I have absolutely no experience with agriculture prior to 3 years ago,  this being the 4th, so we are still encountering new experiences almost everyday. We are also a newly married couple who are working out the kinks of sharing life, work and a business. I’d love to brag and say that we’re handling it all with amazing finesse, but, well,… Read the rest of this article »

hey it’s me, Sara. We have been working really hard to get this season off to the right start. The two Markets that we will be attending most (if not all) of the season start this next week! We plan on bringing some plant starts, and info on warmer weather starts that we’ll have available a little later in the season. (we’re in the process of potting up about 4000 heirloom tomato, pepper, tomatillo, and ground cherry plants). I’m so excited to see all of the vendors and customers!!!… Read the rest of this article »

The winter is gone in the pacific north west and spring is officially here, although I believe our spring started about three or more weeks earlier this year.  My eyes have been focused on the soil and what a privilege it is that my wife and I are learning to be stewards of the land. Read the rest of this article »

Sara here! Just wanted to drop in and say how excited I am about this season! Jared and I have both been working the farm full time essentially.  Jared hasn’t toured since last season and has been working part time in seattle, and also working with me for a landscaping company in nearby Bainbridge Island. We’ve been both trying to blend our farm work styles (with, admittedly, a little conflict) but so far I feel that we are on track (although, feeling a bit behind…). We’ve… Read the rest of this article »

[slideshow id=135] Dear Blog Followers, It’s so good to be back here on the blog.   We have spent a lot of time this winter adjusting our lives to the wide range of changes that take place once a couple turns  together to a life of farming as their fulltime occupation.  Sara and I have been married just over a year, and for the last three years we’ve been tending the earth and planting seeds together, a life skill we completely lacked before that’s now an occupation for two rather than… Read the rest of this article »

My dad inspired this post out of me when I received an email from him asking what a Sunchoke was after I included him on one of our farm fresh sheets that we’ve been emailing out to our customers. The fresh sheets have met their highest item count by now though, as we’re getting hard frosts each night.  The lettuce that was covered with Remay have received a death kiss from Jack Frost! Strange, my mom just told me that she’s never eaten Kale before. I’m so stoked about getting… Read the rest of this article »

25 Black Australorps in our small brooder! 5.14 inches of rain so far this month and that makes for really wet conditions.  My thoughts are on next years fall/winter season and I’m thinking more about getting a good cover crop stand than a four season harvest.  We’ve been to three educational farming workshops/conferences within the last month and they’ve all been wonderful.  The first was an eye opening experience with No-Till Organic Vegetable Production, the second… Read the rest of this article »

[slideshow id=102] A 100 lbs. of Peaceful Valley’s Soil Builder cover crop is planted in our farming rows…. and now the rains are here. GO GO COVER CROP! Two good reads for me on cover crop were ‘Feed the Soil’ and PVFS Cover Crops Technical Bulletin Read the rest of this article »